Amy's Story: Turner Syndrome

My name is Amy Cimorelli; I am a singer, sister, daughter, painter, hopeless romantic, and horrible speller. (I love to write, but hate to spell.) I am part of a band with my five sisters and sing on the internet for a living!

February is Turner Syndrome awareness month and I was asked to share my story. Turner's basically means that I have a problem with one of my X chromosomes. It impacts one of every 2,000-2,500 girls. I was diagnosed with a mild form at nine after four years of trying to figure out why I was not growing. Despite having a mild case, Turner's is still literally written into my DNA and because of that has managed to weave itself in as a big part of my story.

I recognize that I am a conformist to the core, and because of that I do not relish in excess attention and am usually scared to put myself out there. It is a fear I've had to learn to live with though as I grew up very differently from most people being a part of a giant, close-knit family who always arrived to church twenty min late. I've spent my life constantly being compared to my sisters, and being different from my sisters was one of the hardest things to wrap my head around

I thought being different was a liability, something inherently wrong that would make it so I could never belong. I didn't know that the only way to belong was to be 100% myself.

It is my firm belief that no one gets through life without having to deal with intense struggles. If it isn't physical then its emotional, spiritual, financial, or something else entirely. We are defined by how we react to adversity, it makes us who we are. It is in our nature as humans that we are not meant to live lives devoid of pain or weakness.

It took me a long time to realize my body didn't betray me by having Turner's. Turner's doesn't define me. It is not my identity. It is simply a part of me that I have no control over and have learned to love and accept. I had to literally make a peace treaty with my body. I had to forgive it for being born with imperfect DNA. I had to realize it wasn't a liability. I had to realize that my body and life are a gift from God. Once I got into that frame of mind, I realized how much I had mistreated myself all of these years. I wasted so much time being hard on myself. I used to disown the messy parts, but for better or for worse, my story is made up of the negative AND the positive. I'd try to tuck away and forget the imperfect parts even existed, but they were always there, lurking in my mind always threatening to come out of the shadows. Once I took ownership the light was no longer scary.

We only get one life, and I'm not going to waste it being at war with myself. I hope you make that choice as well.

Amy Cimorelli is a musician in the band Cimorelli, where she and her sisters do original music and covers. She is a devout Catholic and even though she is originally from the West Coast, identifies as a Southern-country girl at heart. You can follow her at @amycimxo on Instagram and @amycim on Twitter.